You must be willing (and able) to spend money on your investment property throughout your ownership of it.

You should be happy to let to people who may not share the same values or religion as you.

You must be prepared for almost anything – problems occur, tenants can be rude or inconsiderate and a boilers could always break at five to midnight on Christmas Eve.

Find out about the eviction laws in this country before you go into buy to let – not every landlord will suffer a bad tenant, but if they do it can take up to three months or more to evict them. You should always plan for damages and long periods without rent.

Step 2

Identify your target tenants

Once you know who you want to let to, you can start to look for a suitable property to meet their needs.

You can target more than one tenant group with the same property type.

Step 3

Research your market

Most first-time landlords invest close to home – which is sensible, as you can get to your property quickly if needs be – but you can invest anywhere in the UK.

Consider areas that are popular to live in. Look for the following:

areas with good transport links

decent shopping facilities

good schools

large employers (such as a hospital)

areas with high student demand

Contact local lettings agents to:

discover the rents other landlords are charging in your area

find out how long properties take to let in the area

what their fees are like

Step 4

Decide if you want to self-manage or use a letting agent

Both approaches have their merits:

Self-managing is suitable if you are prepared to put the time in. Be honest with yourself – if you work full-time, have children to care for and/or a busy social life, will you really be able to ‘fit in’ managing your buy to let?

A good letting agent can help you to find a tenant, manage your property repairs, carry out inspections and collect rent, amongst other things.

If you do use a letting agent, make sure they belong to a trade body. This ensures you have some recourse if things don’t go as expected.

Start to put together an address book of useful contacts such as plumbers, electricians, builders and cleaners located close to the property. Make sure you have at least two of each so if one is too busy to help you can always call on another

If you plan on redecorating the property, choose neutral colours so it appeals to a broader market

Make sure the property is clean and ready for a tenant to move in.

Carry out a full inventory of the property. You may want to get a professional inventory clerk to do this, or you can do it yourself. Make sure you take photographs of everything, especially new items such as carpets or doors. Note down any imperfections that you intend to leave unchanged

Put together a pack of all the household manuals for appliances such as cookers, boilers and fridges – it may be worthwhile you photocopying the originals, as these things can be easily thrown away or taken (inadvertently) by the tenant

Make a list of emergency contact details for the tenant

Get the keys cut – make sure you have one for each tenant. Some landlords choose to keep a spare in case their tenant gets locked out or repairs need doing whilst the tenant is at work

Step 9

Find your perfect tenant

If you choose to instruct a letting agent then the task of finding a suitable tenant falls within their remit. It would be a good idea, however, for you to arrange to meet the tenant prior to them moving in.

If you choose not to use a letting agent, then read this article on finding a tenant.

Make sure that whoever finds your tenant references the tenant fully. This should help you avoid letting your property out to someone undesirable.

You can ask your tenant to provide a guarantor who will agree to pay the rent if the tenant fails to do so – if you do ask for this, then make sure you reference the guarantor as well as the tenant.

Get an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement drawn up. We have a free one available from the downloads section of the Commercial Trust website/

Make sure if you take a deposit that it is protected by one of the government approved schemes – this is a legal requirement and if you fail to do it you could be opening yourself up for all sorts of problems.